Our Ethos Team

Chudleigh Knighton C of E Primary School’s Ethos Team

The Ethos team works alongside Miss Jemma Lewis and Maren Hedermann with other members of the community, our school prayer leaders and spiritual leaders on the Committee. We support other pupils in the school during our Collective Worship where we use ‘prayer beads’. We look after the School’s Prayer Tree which any child in the school can tie a leaf or ribbon prayer onto. We attend meetings with children from Federation and local schools at the various Ethos Days which are held throughout our Federation area. Together we create prayers, poems, displays and lead services which reflect the Christian Ethos and vision of our School.

Our School Ethos Chair for the year 2020 - 2021 is:

Lucy (Year 6)

Ethos Meeting Minutes 2018 -2019

Chudleigh Knighton’s Ethos Day focussed on the Holy Trinity. We were joined by children from Lady Seaward's, Westcliff, Willowbank and Rockbeare primary schools. The children participated in a number of creative, craft activities that allowed them to identify, name and understand the three persons of the God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Easter Ethos Morning

The Ethos Team had a trip to Dawlish this week where they attended an Easter themed Ethos morning at Westcliff Primary School. Blackpool school and Lady Seawards were also there as part of the Ethos Hub. The children visited the church and made newspaper palm trees which they were able to use to re-enact Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. They then enjoyed some hot cross buns, learning about the significance to the Easter festival. Each child made an Easter garden in a silver tub which they planted up with small plants, stones and three crosses to remind them of the Easter Story.

Deanery Day - Chudleigh

On Friday 10th February the Ethos team went along to the Deanery Day that was hosted in Chudleigh Church to take part in a variety of activities to 'Give Thanks'. The Bishop of Plymouth joined the congregation in the afternoon during the short service. The children painted a canvas picture to take back to their schools thinking about what they were grateful for.

'I made a new friend today and really enjoyed the drumming' - Sophie, Year 4

'I loved performing the Lord's Prayer during the service' - Maya, Year 6

'The canvas was good fun to make and we get to take it back to the school and hang it up to share with all our school.' Freddie, Year 3

'I enjoyed the singing and doing the harmonies' - Holly, Year 5

Synagogue and Mosque Visit

Our Ethos Team along with our Press Pack and House Captains were taken to Plymouth to visit a Mosque and then a Synagogue. We listened to what takes place within those buildings and how the people who go their worship. We had to be respectful when visiting and cover our heads with scarves and hats within the mosque. In the Synagogue we were given prayer hats (kippahs) to wear. The visit to the Synagogue was very interactive and we were allowed to see and touch many beautiful artefacts. We will be presenting an assembly to the rest of the school about our visit. More photos from the visit can be found in the Gallery.

Ethos Hub Day

In November Chudleigh Knighton hosted an Ethos Hub Day with the focus being on whether having School values was important to each school. The schools attending the day were Westcliff Primary, Lady Seaward's Primary and Blackpool Primary School. During the morning the children attending took part in a debate with the topic for debate being whether each school in the Federation should have one value that they share. The debate was a calm one with the children showing a great deal of respect for each other. The outcome was that there should not be just one value across the schools. 

'We could focus on one value each week and then change it at the end of the week' 

'The only problem with changing the value each week is that the board would have to be changed and that's a lot of work for the adults.'

'Each value kind of links to the other values anyway.'

The Ethos Hub day was enjoyed by everybody taking part and certainly gave each child something to share with their own school.

Lady Seaward's Ethos Team Visit

Lady Seaward's Ethos team visited Chudleigh Knighton Primary School and with our ethos team they visited St Paul's Church here in the village. They spent time in the Church reflecting on the reasons why the community and school visit the Church. They then shared each other's School Christian Values and linked them to the teachings of Jesus.

Federation Ethos Day - Blackpool School

On Friday 11th March, the Ethos team along with Miss Dorrington travelled to Blackpool School for a Federation Ethos Day. The children enjoyed three Easter activities whilst learning about the Easter Story.  The children designed an Easter biscuit for some one of their choice, made an Easter garden pot plant for the  group to bring back to their school and were lucky with the weather to be able to enjoy a walk in the woods. Here they were able to think about the characteristics of 'King Jesus' and the journey Jesus went on leading up to Easter. They learnt about why Jesus was given the crown of thorns and why Jesus was crucified, to pay for the sins we make each day. The children wrote a prayer each for a characteristic they did not like about themselves. Some examples from our Ethos Team were:

Dear God, I am sorry when I get cross, please help me to always be calm, Amen

Dear God, I am sorry when I am selfish towards my little brother, please help me to be kind and share with him, Amen

The children also were able to think about how we use Easter eggs to help remind us of the Easter story, with the hollowness of the chocolate egg being like the tomb in the garden of Gethsemane and eggs symbolising new life. At the end of the day all of the children who joined us were able to share a piece of the chocolate egg to remind them of the sweetness of Jesus. The day ended with a prayer and a song as well as thanking Mrs McCarthy for all that she has done for the Ethos days. The children said a special prayer for her as she moves on to her new school.

Our School Prayer

Dear Lord,

Please help us to show kindness to each other by helping some-one up who has fallen over.

Help us always be happy, especially when we are all together at school.

Help us to be respectful to each other, to our families and friends. Please help us respect everything around us.

Help us to put our Trust in your love and protection.

Keep us strong as we all work together in our happy team.

Please help us to always be honest and truthful in

everything we do.

Help us all to remember and use our School values every day.

Amen